Archives for September 2011

During June/July 2011 the government of India announced the launch of $35 tablet. It was supposed to have bee in the market by July itself but now it is expected to be launched on Oct 5, 2011. For some reason the entire project has been very confidential – there were no official press releases on the specifications of this tablet. Not sure why.

Focus on Local Language: Those tracking internet numbers in India are entering a mathematical roadblock soon. Internet user numbers are reaching 100 million soon and will get to 300 million by 2014/15 according to some. But there are only 110-120 odd million people in India who know English. There is also a social roadblock, the government and Telcos are planning to reach internet to rural India as a part of its inclusiveness agenda, but who in rural India would understand and use predominantly – English internet? The need for local language content and apps should be highlighted everywhere by everyone who believe in the inherent power of internet to dis-intermediate information and provide a level playing field to those who are currently socially and economically excluded. It was in this spirit that the Department of Information Technology led by Shri. Sachin Pilot inaugurated the W3C office in India last week [click here for press release]. We at IAMAI actively work with TDIL division of DiT and extend our full support to their initiative.

LinkedIn has an user base of 120+ million people across 200+ countries all over the worldwide. LinkedIn India has about 11 million users. Few have tried to replicate LinkedIn in India, as expected they have failed miserably.

The print and TV media in India are no doubt the hot favorites of the governments in India (Central/Federal & State) and the politicians. The government spends sizable amounts of money on the already cash rich newspapers. Most of us in the internet industry have waited to get a piece of that pie (however small is fine, we need a beginning). Few months ago DAVP invited internet portals to submit their credentials to be eligible for advertisements from Govt of India.